Poor Nick Clegg. Why is it that we always have to call the deputy prime minister that? The poor fellow appeared at the House of Commons to present the white paper and draft bill on House of Lords reform.

House of Lords reform! It has been perplexing parliament for more than 100 years. It resembles the old Schleswig-Holstein question, which Palmerston claimed was understood by three people, one of whom was dead and another mad. At least the old S-H teaser has been sorted out, but the Lords question still pursues men to the grave or the asylum.

Mr Clegg had done his work, with the help of an all-party committee.

You'd think that would give him some all-party credibility. But Labour hates the Liberal Democrat leader because he is essential to keeping the Tories in power, and the Tories hate him for the same reason. His cunning and complicated plan reminded me, again, of Billy Liar in his bedroom working on the constitution of his fictional country, Ambrosia. Then he goes down for tea – and there is the population of Ambrosia, all jeering at him!

And it was such a beautifully worked out plan! It would all start in 2015. There would in the end be only 300 peers, each serving for 15 years, one-third of them elected every five years, while the existing membership would be reduced by one-third every five years. But only four-fifths of them would be elected. The other 60 would be appointed, by someone or other. Confused? Of course you are. So was everybody else.

Tories sat behind the deputy prime minister in a harsh, almost tangible silence. Labour MPs just mocked. "At each election, one-third of members will be re-elected under STV … " poor Nick Clegg said, and someone yelled "Try AV!", to more scorn. A party list system had not been ruled out. At this point I think I heard a Labour MP, with more emotion than wit, cry: "Shurrup!" He pushed doggedly on. History taught us that completing Lords reform was a great challenge. Labour MPs collapsed at that. Many Tories just sat there, as if someone had decided, as a prank, to put clothes on the Easter Island statues.

One Conservative after another stood up to drip scorn on the whole elaborate plan. Edward Leigh compared it to the system used in Papua New Guinea. For Labour, David Winnick wanted a bet; he said there wasn't the faintest chance the scheme would be in place by 2015. "Bet, bet!" yelled Mr Winnick. Poor Nick Clegg trudged miserably onward.

Next up, another Lib Dem minister for everyone to laugh at. Chris Huhne, who may or may not have asked his ex-wife to take some of his speeding points onto her driving licence, spoke about "carbon budgets". MPs rarely jeer at a colleague who has been assailed in the press. They hate the media and prefer to pick their own enemies. Were there some subtle jibes? Meg Hillier for Labour spoke about "accelerating" and "slowing down", while other MPs said the minister had made "interesting points". For shame. That's the kind of cheap jibe we sketchwriters are paid to make.